Beastmaster of the Ages

The way the ancestral guidance stele was created meant that Lin Jianjia had been able to comprehend over a thousand transformations of the sword art within three days. That was indeed impressive. Based on that pace, she would have a minor level of accomplishment in the art when she broke past ten thousand swordbarriers and would be able to execute it soon after.

Tianming’s method of lockpicking wouldn’t be able to replicate it. He knew he wasn’t likely to be able to obtain the sword art if he used normal methods—he didn’t understand the Temporal Dao and hadn’t prepared for it at all.

Thus, his plan was to first skip to the prize. He immediately seized the weakness of the second layer upon breaking past the first layer and unlocked that as well.

Outside, he saw that a black sword pattern had made its way to him. Another came when he broke the second layer. Although he was far from ten thousand, he had started down the right path.

“Let’s do this!” Tianming’s confidence swelled. “Lin Jianjia danced and jumped around to comprehend the sword, but I just laid here like I was sleeping. What will people think?” He was rather excited and could only say that the sky plundering race were living cheats. It was no wonder the Flameyellow Imperial Star had invited them in. The star had been imperial-class then, even stronger than Ebonia was now!

However, he wasn’t too complacent. Ten thousand was quite a large number and it would get harder later on, so his chances weren’t high. After calming down, he focused on his task. He wanted to break as many barriers as he could as fast as he could. No one was paying attention to him right now, anyway.

The third layer, the fourth layer!

The barriers grew harder to bypass, but Tianming grew more familiar with them as well. He constantly heard Grandvoid Swordfiend’s explanations about his sword art as new transformations constantly appeared. He listened and memorized the insights, but omitted the process of comprehending the sword. Every layer required a complicated process and took him about sixty breaths of time.

However, a month was pretty long if he didn’t take breaks.

Thus, the first day passed just like that and the number of black sword patterns around him had reached three hundred.

“It was harder than I thought. I guess the sky plunderers aren’t omnipotent.” Lin Jianjia’s speed was on par with Tianming’s current lockpicking speed. He wasn’t too satisfied, but Lin Xiaogui, who was closest to him, was utterly floored. She had been working very hard for the entire day and had only broken past eighty-seven swordbarriers.

“Whew… there’s basically no hope.” She did have some self-awareness, at least. After all, she didn’t train in this sword dao. After stopping, she glanced at Tianming… only to freeze in place after seeing that he had three hundred sword patterns around him.

“Three hundred in one day?” It was much more than her. Most importantly, he wasn’t even training the art. He was just… dumbly lying down there. Anyone not in the know might even think he was sleeping! “Is he… a monster?” She didn’t dare to disturb him.

“Hey, what’re you looking at? Convinced yet?” Tianming suddenly turned toward her.

“You can actually talk while you’re comprehending the sword?” Lin Xiaogui was even more shocked.

“What’s so hard about that? he asked.

Lin Xiaogui witnessed another sword pattern being added while he talked. “I…. Alright. I’ll try for another few days, and if there’s still no hope, I’ll guard you so others don’t disturb you,” she said. Protecting people was very important. On the stele, many would choose to disturb and ruin others’ chances when they saw no hope for themselves.

“Why? Just start watching my miracle now,” Tianming said.

“No.” Lin Xiaogui shook her head. “How do I know if you only have a strong start and will slow down tomorrow?”

“Fine, you just have bad eyesight. Just watch.”

“At least stand up and show some respect for Ancestor Grandvoid Swordfiend.”

“What do you know? Lying down on him is the best respect I can show him.”

Lin Xiaogui was speechless. Wasn’t he worried that the members of the Swordsoul Chamber who kept yapping on about their ancestors would find trouble with him?

“Fine, I’ll watch.”

The second day. The third day! When Tianming reached a thousand, Lin Xiaogui questioned her eyesight. A thousand in three days meant he had hope. A hundred-year-old cripple like him reaching such a speed was inconceivable to many.

Lin Xiaogui was next to him, so she was clear that Tianming’s speed was actually increasing. As for Lin Jianjia, hers was decreasing.

“At this rate….” Lin Xiaogui didn’t even dare imagine it. She realized that Lin Mu’s son, who was suffering from the same problems as her, had something special about him.

“Oh, this is so hard! This damn lock!” Tianming was busy sighing as he ‘comprehended’ the sword.”

“Stop pretending. You’ve already hit a thousand and almost caught up to Lin Jianjia in speed.”

“What? I’m slower than her? I really am trash!” Tianming suddenly felt that he was embarrassing the sky plunderers.

“Seriously?”

“It’s time to get serious. I can’t waste energy on talking to you, so remember to protect me.” He focused all his attention on his task.

“Fine!” Lin Xiaogui stopped working on her comprehension and guarded him. She was willing to accept that she had lost the bet with Tianming.

Many, both on the stele and inside the Swordsoul Chamber, had seen ‘Lin Feng’ break past a thousand swordbarriers while sprawled on the ground.

“What’s this luck?”

“He must’ve inherited Lin Mu’s comprehension abilities.”

“Don’t worry, Chamber Lord. He doesn’t have a deep comprehension of the Temporal Dao. The first part relies on comprehension, while the latter parts need a foundation. He’ll run out of steam.”

“Anyway, Jianjia is already at two thousand. Lin Feng reached a thousand three days too late.

Lin Xiaoyun waved his hand. “That’s enough. Everything’s fair on the ancestor guidance steles. It all depends on their fates.” He looked at Lin Wuyi. “What do you think?”

“We’ll just keep watching! His wives are honestly quite impressive, but he himself.…” She knew how important the matter was for Lin Xiaoyun, Lin Jianjia, and even the entire third branch. Those within the Swordsoul Chamber had to put Lin Feng down now to improve the atmosphere.